Culture Teacher Notes
I.
Basic concepts (PowerPoint)
A. habit: a repetitive act performed by an individual. E.g.: nose picking
B. custom: a repetitive act adopted and performed by a group ask students
for examples
C. culture: collection of customs shared by a group E.g.: speak American
English, cars, fast food, entertainment, baseball, football
D. acculturation: process that happens when one group starts to take on the
customs of another culture E.g.: U.S./Mexico border
II.
Definition (PowerPoint)
A. Culture consists of a people’s beliefs, institutions, and technologies
III.
Artifacts
A. “technologies” or hardware – stuff that archaeologists dig up. The
schoolroom is an example. The pencil sharpener is an example. What
else in the room?
B. Artifacts are of low level importance to the culture.
C. Cultures abandon artifacts as soon as they find something better.
Examples: 8-track tape player. Other examples?
IV.
Sociofacts
A. Institutions/organizations of culture – the ways of doing things
B. Example: At school the bell rings and what happens? Everyone leaves
because it’s part of the sociofact (the institution) and we understand the
institution.
C. Example: The way religions function = sociofact. Catholic Church
D. Example: Native Americans eventually adapted to the culture (e.g.: police
cars, Native American schools)
E. Sociofacts are of medium importance in a culture
V.
Mentifacts
A. World views – core values and beliefs
B. Example: In school an “A” = good and “F” = bad. What it means to be
“smart” mentifact
C. Example: Of view of time as linear (we are in life now and later will die).
Other places have a circular view of time like Hindu reincarnation
D. Example: Bigger is better; faster is better; more is better
E. Example: views of respect. Native Americans look down
F. People REALLY hold tightly to mentifacts; meeting of Native Americans
and Pilgrims = very different mentifacts
G. Mentifacts do not get replaced
VI.
Distribution of Culture (PowerPoint)
A. Culture Region
1. Boundaries hard to define
2. Many culture regions are perceptual regions
3. Along borders, two adjacent cultures may begin to “share” or “trade”
customs. This is called ACCULTURATION. It is also an example of
DIFFUSION
B. Culture realm or macrocultural regions
1. Cultural region that shares language family and religion, etc. Share only
the most basic elements of culture
2. Examples: Latin America = Catholic and Romance language group;
Sub-Saharan Africa = Niger-Congo language and animist; North
America = Christian (that’s the religion and then there are different subcategories) and English
VII.
Core, Domain, Sphere
A. Core = all elements of the culture present
B. Domain = some to most of the elements of the culture are present
C. Sphere = Some of the elements of the culture are present
D. Example: Choose the three very important maps. Where all three overlap
= core; where two overlap = domain; where there is one map element
present = sphere